The Gambit
by Beledi1113
Summary: Yep, Tyson and Nieman are back with a vengeance. And this is an AU version because it's so definitely not going to be what the writers will do in episodes 14 and 15 (Season 7).
1. Chapter 1 Culling the Herd

**The Gambit**

Yep, Tyson and Nieman are back with a vengeance. And this is an AU version because it's so definitely not going to be what the writers will do in episodes 14 and 15.

Author's Notes: Okay, so I said I wasn't going to write anymore fanfic for a while, but the evil plot bunny latched on and won't let go and Castle's a repeat tonight and I'm bored, so here goes… And this is going to be short. And I can't find the DA's name in Probable Cause, so I'm making one up.

And for all you reviewers who are going to say, "You didn't warn us!," please read my author's notes on my other fics. Unless I specifically say something in the synopsis, it doesn't happen.

All characters belong to Andrew Marlowe, ABC, and Disney. Just playing with them.

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Chapter 1 – Culling the Herd

Even though Castle hadn't had a lot of clients up to this point, Black Pawn was having a field day spinning press on his PI business and had booked him on the spur of the moment to speak about his new endeavor at the local mystery writers conference.

He had almost cancelled the speaking engagement when Beckett had come home late last night, looking pale and drawn. She had left early that morning after getting a message about a body drop and he had spent the day putting finishing touches on his presentation, aptly titled "Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk".

He finally coaxed the reason out of her and it sent chills down his spine.

A young woman, Adrianne Flowers, had been murdered, found by her roommate who had just returned from a business trip. She was young, blonde, lying peacefully in bed, a 3-ply green and white cord wrapped around her neck.

Lanie estimated that the time-of-death had been about 48 hours before the call came in, the roommate's return having been delayed about 36 hours due to inclement weather.

Ryan had gone through the video feed from the building and a cable repairman had been in the building, even though no one had called in for service.

So was it the real deal or was it just another crazy disciple?

NYPD wasn't sure, putting all precincts on edge, and Castle didn't like the fact that he couldn't work with Beckett on this, couldn't be there to watch her back. He knew that Ryan and Espo would, but he didn't like it none-the-less.

And now, he wasn't sure how he had let Paula and Gina talk him into staying to sign books after his presentation (which had been very well received) and they had graciously given him a 15-minute bio-break which he desperately needed after drinking several cups of coffee that morning because he hadn't slept well after Beckett's news.

He quickly finished, tucked himself in, and was washing his hands in the bathroom sink when a hand touched his shoulder and a low, sultry voice purred in his ear, "Hey, handsome, miss me?"

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Beckett looked at her phone – Castle had promised to text her when he finished his speech but she hadn't heard from him yet – and then looked at the murder board, hoping that something would jump out at her.

The only pictures they had of the cable repairman were from the back, but they were the right height. The weight was about the same too, but then, they only had their memories to go by since all of the evidence on 3XK had been stolen last year.

The van that the fake repairmen had used had been stolen an hour before the estimated TOD and ad been wiped clean.

So now, they were on pins and needles, waiting for the other shoe to fall – for the next murder to be committed and 1PP was not happy to say the least. They were sitting really hard on the press to suppress the news of the murder so not to cause a panic, but Beckett thought that might be the way to go now – to make people aware of the danger.

She looked over her shoulder and frowned slightly as the elevator swished open and Alex Conrad walked out, carrying several books.

Ryan and Espo looked up at the same time and smiled, standing up to greet the man.

"Hey, bro. How's it going?" Espo said as they hugged and thumped each other on the back.

"Great book," said Ryan as they shook hands.

"Well, the advice you guys gave was invaluable," Conrad said. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"You need help again?" Espo asked.

"Actually, I was in town and brought you all copies of my latest book, personally autographed by me," he said as he handed each of them a copy.

Espo looked at the cover. "Hmmm, The Duplicate Man."

"Yeah, it's the 3rd in the series – hope you like it. I signed it personally for each of you." His phone beeped and he quickly looked at the screen. "My taxi's here. I'm flying to LA to meet with producers about making a movie from my first book."

"Congratulations," the group said.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't have done it without Castle's help." Conrad looked around expectantly. "He's not here?"

Beckett shook her head, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "No, he's not," she said simply and then opened the copy of the book Conrad had given her to read what he had written.

"Well, when you see him, please thank him for me. I even brought a copy for him. Bye, guys," Conrad said as he shook hands again and then walked to the elevator.

As the doors opened, he stepped to the side and let DA Cummins exit before he entered.

Beckett and the team stood routed in place as the DA strode briskly towards Gates' office and knocked on her door.

"Captain Gates, I got a message that you had some urgent information to tell me on the possible 3XK murder case," Cummins said.

Gates took off her glasses as she stood up and walked to the door. "I didn't call," she said, frowning. She looked at the team. "Did one of you call?"

"No," said Beckett, looking at Ryan and Espo, who also shook their heads.

"You said it was urgent – that it would break the case wide open," the DA said.

Gates shook her head. "Ma'am, if my team says they didn't call, they didn't."

Cummins frowned. "I don't understand. Then who called?"

"Detective Esposito, get the phone records from the DA and have Ellis trace all calls," Gates said as Beckett's PC chimed.

She frowned at it. "Someone is skyping me," she said as she answered the call.

"Detective Beckett, I have some important information on the Adrianne Flowers murder," came the garbled voice. "And I'm assuming that DA Cummins is there now. She'll be interested in hearing what I have to say also."

"Who is this?" Beckett asked.

"Oh, you know me, Detective. It hasn't been that long. Although it was very dark on the bridge that night. You know, I never got a chance to properly thank you and Castle for your help. But I can fix that now."

The monitor sprung to life, showing the inside of a warehouse. The camera moved around until it landed on a figure standing by the door.

Beckett froze, her heart in her throat – Castle – what was he doing there?

"You know how they cull the herds?" the voice continued. "They remove the unwanted animal from the pack – do what it takes to separate them – and then destroy them."

The team could only stand and watch as Castle called out, "DA Cummins?"

"What the hell?" Gates and Cummins said as the same time as the DA walked out of the shadows in the warehouse and towards Castle. "Mr. Castle, thank you for meeting me today. And I understand if you say no…due to the circumstances…but you may be the only expert we have on Jerry Tyson. We would like you to help on this case."

Castle shrugged. "Sure – of course. I'm sure Detective Beckett—"

Cummings held up her hand. "I'm sorry, but we need to do this off the books – we'll provide you everything you need, but we want his focus to be on what the 12th is doing."

Castle nodded. "Okay…" he said.

"And one more thing," said Cummings as she pulled a gun out of her pocket and fired two quick shots, knocking Castle backwards and off his feet. "Tyson says 'hi'," she said as she walked up to him and aimed the gun at his head.

The screen went blank as the team heard one more shot.

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	2. Chapter 2 The Play Is the Thing

**The Gambit**

Yep, Tyson and Nieman are back with a vengeance.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the follows, favs, and reviews – they really mean a lot. Sorry – I was hoping to post this yesterday, but yesterday was a really, really, really just weird day.

All characters belong to Andrew Marlowe, ABC, and Disney. Just playing with them and you.

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Chapter 2 – The Play's the Thing or "Did you hear the one where two women walk into the men's bathroom?"

"_I'll have grounds more relative than this – the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."_

Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, or for us nerds, The Conscience of the King, Star Trek

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The bullpen at the precinct was motionless for a moment after the Skype session ended and then erupted into action.

"Ryan, get a warrant to trace that Skye session. Esposito, run GPS on Mr. Castle's phone," Gates barked harshly, glancing towards Beckett who had crumpled into her chair, her head resting on her knees, her face hidden from view.

The DA stood to the side, a stunned expression on her face, watching as the detectives went to work.

Gates walked over to Beckett and placed a hand on her back. "Kate, we'll find him," she said softly.

Beckett could only nod as her shoulders shook.

"Got it," Espo called. "Garment District – 7th Ave and W 38th. I've sent unis to the location."

"And Judge Markway says he'll be glad to sign," Ryan added as he hung up his phone.

"Good. Get Tory up here to see what she can find," Gates said, nodding slightly.

"What can I do?" the DA asked quietly.

"Be ready to prosecute these bastards when we find them," Gates replied tersely.

A slight 'ehem' caught Gates' attention and she turned to look at the copier repairman who stood in the corner and had witnessed the entire event. He looked shaken.

He pointed to the copier. "Uh, I fixed it – the copier."

Gates stared at him as he picked up his bag and turned to look at her again. "Call me – you know – if it breaks again. They'll send someone out."

He slowly walked towards the elevator and pushed the down button with a shaky hand as Gates turned her attention back to Espo and Ryan. "You two, get out there."

"Yes, sir," the two detectives replied in unison and quickly holstered their guns and grabbed their jackets.

The elevator doors opened and the repairman started to walk in, but then backed up as Agent Shaw and two other FBI agents walked out of the elevator, their guns trained on him.

"Going somewhere, Tyson?" Shaw asked.

"Uh," the man said, shaking his head, backing away even further, "I don't know what you're talking about. Name's Brenstien – Freddy Brenstien – I work for Copiers R Us."

"Nice try," replied Shaw as the repairman started to turn, only to be blocked by Beckett, pointing her gun at him also.

"Put the bag down slowly," Beckett said as she sighted along the barrel of her gun.

Ryan, Espo, and Gates stayed where they were, not wanting to distract them but also not sure what was going on.

"Okay, but you got the wrong guy," the repairman said as he put the bag on the floor and then stood up with both hands raised slightly.

"Don't think so," said Shaw. "The beard's a nice touch though and the glasses and the hat – has a tendency to throw off most facial recognition. But you'd be surprised at what the ears tell you about a person. Cuff him," she said over her shoulder to the 2 agents with her.

The agents quickly took the man into custody as Shaw holstered her gun and looked at Beckett. "You okay?"

Beckett took a deep breath as her arm fell to her side and nodded, gulping. She didn't know what she would have done if she hadn't been forewarned by the dedication written in Conrad's book. That in itself almost gave her a heart attack when she read, 'He's there at the station and he's watching. You'll know what to do. Always.'

Shaw walked over to Beckett's computer and signed back in to Skype. "So how's everything on that end?" she asked as the screen sprang to life, showing the warehouse where the shooting had just taken place.

Agent Avery answered. "Sally Miller is in custody and she agrees to cooperate, considering we just saved her life. She knows where Nieman is and agents are picking her up now. In fact, they should be right outside the 12th now."

Shaw frowned as she looked past him and at Castle lying on the floor, struggling to get up. "So how's our guinea pig? You can tell him he can get up now – he looks like a stuck turtle," she said drily.

Avery glanced over his shoulder. "Need some help?" he asked matter-of-factly.

Castle struggled for a few more moments and then gave up and lay still. "How on earth do you stand up in one of these things? I can't bend anything," he said, craning his head to look at Avery.

"The trick is to not fall down in the first place," said the agent, motioning to another agent and then walking over to where Castle lay. Each took one of his arms and hauled the writer to his feet.

"You could have told me earlier," Castle groused. He looked at the camera as he started to unbutton his shirt that had several holes in it to reveal a dark breast-plate. "You know, I have some suggestions about this full body armor – it kinda pinches in certain places."

"Well, we wanted to make sure we kept the family jewels intact," drawled Shaw, cutting him off. "And research will be more than happy to talk to you, especially since the field test went well."

Castle's head whipped up and his hands froze mid-motion. "What?! That's not what you said in the bathroom this morning!"

This time it was Gates cutting Castle off. "Would someone tell me what the hell is going on here?" she demanded.

Agent Shaw walked over to her and stuck out her right hand. "Captain Gates, I'm Agent Jordan Shaw of the FBI. I'm sorry we couldn't bring you into the loop early, but this opportunity presented itself rather quickly."

Gates looked sharply at the DA. "You knew about this?"

Cummins nodded. "Agent Shaw stopped by yesterday afternoon with some interesting information. And we approached Mr. Castle this morning at the writer's conference to enlist his help."

Espo and Ryan silently quirked eyebrows at them and then at Beckett.

Shaw nodded. "Yes, one of our field agents in NY is working with Cummins on a case and ran into her at a coffee shop the day before yesterday. But he quickly realized he wasn't talking to her even though the woman looked identical to Cummins and was using her name."

"And at that time, I happened to be in a meeting with the mayor," the DA added.

"The agent reported this and we were able to run a quick facial recognition to confirm what had happened," said Shaw. "We knew about the incident last year with Tyson's information – that Nieman is suspected of using duplicates to steal the information. And the murder earlier this week fits Tyson's MO."

"And what about Mr. Castle?" asked Gates. "How did he become involved?"

"Based on past events, we thought either he or Detective Beckett were going to be the target," nodded Shaw. "And it so happens that as we were talking to Mr. Castle this morning, the fake Cummins called him to set up a meeting to enlist his help in finding Tyson."

"How convenient," commented Gates.

"We'll take what we get," replied Shaw. She looked at the screen. "Avery, as soon as you finish up there, I want you and Castle back here."

Avery nodded.

"Uh," came Castle's voice in the background. "I think this thing is stuck – how do I get out of it?"

Shaw let out a sigh. "Yeah, about that – the armor still has some bugs. Avery, did you bring the can opener?"

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End file.
